Another hot and humid day was awaiting us as we lined up in the American
Legion Hall parking lot! Since Rooster was our trail guide, we knew we'd
be in for an interesting and fun day!

We headed out on the dusty trail. A few of the same vehicles,
including the 2 Rubicons from the day before, joined us, along with a
Hummer and
a Ford Explorer. The Hummer and Explorer did not go through all the trails
with us but they definitely joined us in the creek! (How could anyone
not go in the
creek!?!) The ride through the creek was really entertaining and challenging
(especially if you were trying to stay dry)! Screamin' and Rooster definitely
won the award for the largest bazooka squirt guns! (Deanna came armed
with a squirt gun, but definitely not a match, for them!)

Here's a few action-filled pictures to give you an idea of our day's
events . . .

Thanks to Syndy and Durrell for allowing us to wheel on
their land, and to Rooster for leading us on an exciting trail ride!

Black Oak by Dave, Sherri, Talon and Myla

This was my family’s 3rd trip to the Blast. We had been looking
forward to it all year. We pulled our TJ up with our ZJ…and it
was a good thing that we did! As usual, Pittsfield made us feel very
welcome. As we were choosing our trails for the weekend, we ran into
Ken and Royce Keating. We had met Ken and his son Royce at the 2001 Blast
and it was good to see them again. My son Talon was very glad to see
his friend Royce.

We chose Black Oak for Friday and Murphy’s Law on
Saturday. We lined up by the bowling alley Friday morning and got to
meet some of the other people on our trail run and also check out the
other rigs. There were some sweet rigs from all over gathered there.
We headed out to the Black Oak trail Friday morning in a Jeep convoy
filled with about every make/model of Jeep ever made. We all introduced
ourselves over the CB. When we arrived at the trailhead, we stopped to
air down and disconnect. During that time, our trail guide “Rooster” (AKA “Chicken” by
my daughter Myla) gave the children in the group squirt guns. He filled
their guns up with water just so he could be attacked from all sides
by the barrage of squirt guns. It was soon apparent, however, that he
had come prepared, for he was packin’ the mother of all squirt
guns. It shot a stream of water for about 100’! From that moment
on, he had made friends and adversaries for the remainder of the trail.

The trail took us through rock bottomed creeks, thick woods,
tall hills and even some nice flexy stuff thrown in. In one section,
Rooster had me take the lead so that my kids could see some turkeys and
deer that were known to gather at a section of the trail. We had a great
morning and by noon we were all ready for some grub. We stopped for lunch
at the Miller’s weekend homestead. Durrell Miller and his family
are the landowners of the Black Oak trail. They were on the trail with
us and made us all feel at home on their beautiful place. After everyone
finished lunch, we headed back to the trail.

It wasn’t long before we made it to a section of
hills where there were a few choices to make. There were a couple easy
hills to climb to get to the upper section of trail. There was also “Winch
Hill”. Winch Hill was an interesting hill with a steep incline,
a couple rock ledges, large and small boulders mixed in with loose rock/dirt….oh…and
a small tree right in the way. Rooster decided to climb up Winch Hill,
as did my friend Jeff in his CJ5. Most other people went up the easier
hill to the left. We decided to try “Winch Hill”. Why not???
It looked like fun!

We tried to crawl up it, but just didn’t have enough
clearance. We were going to have to hit it a little harder and bounce
over the ledges and the bigger rocks. After our 3rd attempt I informed
the rest of our group that the next attempt would be my last try at it.
I was totally correct. I hit it pretty hard and about ¾ the way
up, as I came down on the second ledge, my Dana 35 rear axle decided
that it had had enough…SNAP! We winched the rest of the way up
the aptly name hill and then jacked the rig up to shove the axle back
in the housing. It only made it another 50’ or so when the wheel
was about a foot past the fender flare. The Miller family jumper right
in to help, as did everyone else on the trail.

There were plenty of offers from other Jeepers to let us
ride with them for the rest of the trail. We decided to try and get the
rig back to town instead. The Millers gave us a ride back to town where
I picked up the ZJ and the trailer. We got back to the trail and unhooked
the trailer from my ZJ and hooked it behind the Miller’s Hummer.
The Hummer drug the trailer through the creek bed and up the hill to
my TJ. We loaded up the TJ and headed back. I watched with amazement
as the Hummer pulled my rig AND the trailer down the hill and through
the creek like it wasn’t pulling a thing! We switched the rig over
to behind my ZJ and I thanked the Millers for their hospitality and headed
back to town. We were done for the weekend, but we decided to stay instead
of heading home.

We enjoyed the raffle and supper at the legion and became
tourists for the remainder of the weekend. We took the kids to Hannibal
where we toured the
Mark Twain Cave and took a ride on the Mark twain boat. Even though we
broke, we had a great time and look forward to next years run. Our rig
will be a
little beefier by then and I vow that Winch Hill will be climbed!! Hehe!
I just want to thank everyone for a great time: Rooster for being a great
trail guide (my kids love him)…and especially the Miller family who
went out of their way to make us feel welcome on their awesome trail and
made sure that my family and our rig made it back to civilization! Thanks
again for a wonderful time.